Typeface · Serif
Didone
Didone () is a genre of serif typeface that emerged in the late 18th century and was the standard style of general-purpose printing during the 19th century.
About Didone
Didone () is a genre of serif typeface that emerged in the late 18th century and was the standard style of general-purpose printing during the 19th century. It is characterized by: Narrow and unbracketed (hairline) serifs. (The serifs have a nearly constant width along their length.) Vertical orientation of weight axes. (The vertical strokes of letters are thick.) Strong contrast between thick and thin lines. (Horizontal parts of letters are thin in comparison to the vertical parts.) Some stroke endings show ball terminals. (Many lines end in a teardrop or circle shape, rather than a plain wedge-shaped serif.) An unornamented, "modern" appearance. The term "Didone" is a 1954 coinage, part of the Vox-ATypI classification system.
From the Wikipedia article “Didone (typography)”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Using Didone in a book
Serif typefaces like this are the traditional choice for book body text: the serifs guide the eye along the line in long passages. Set novels at 10.5–12 pt with 125–140% leading.
Commercial typefaces require a licence that covers embedding in PDFs and ebooks; check the foundry's licence before you publish.
Free alternatives on Google Fonts
Sources & data
- Structured data from Wikidata Q693749 (CC0).
- Summary text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).